The present invention relates to an electronic tone generation system in which multiple, separate wireless transmitters, or batons, are utilized in association with a base station and tone generator to produce audible sounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,034 B1 issued to Beach et al. and assigned to Schulmerich Carillons Inc., the assignee of the present application, discloses an electronic tone generation system in which instruments in the form of portable handheld wireless transmitters are provided to a player or players. Activation of the transmitters sends signals to a single receiver that communicates with a tone generator to produce audible sounds. Thus, a musical or other presentation can be produced.
Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/706,803 filed on Nov. 12, 2003 and assigned to Schulmerich Carillons Inc., the assignee of the present application, also discloses handheld wireless batons and an electronic tone generation system. Each baton has a motion sensor, such as flexible piezoelectric reed, that produces waveform signals based on baton movement, and a play and/or mute signal is transmitted by the baton based upon the shape of the waveform produced by the motion sensor.
Although the electronic tone generation systems and handheld wireless transmitters (ie., batons) disclosed in the above cited patent and co-pending application may function satisfactorily for their intended purposes, there remains a need for improved batons and electronic tone generation systems.
With the foregoing in mind, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a reliable and easy-to-use baton/transmitter for an electronic tone generation system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic tone generation system that is user-friendly and provides numerous options with respect to its setup and operation.